Chickens with poufy topknots; chickens with feathered feet; chickens with turquoise earlobes; chickens who lay green eggs though not with ham; chickens with tails that can grow twenty feet long … When I placed my initial order with the hatchery, I had many breeds to choose from.

Instead of exclusive pods of Mexicans, Guatemalans, Armenians, Filipinos, Sikhs with their topknots, Russians — kids whose mothers stand by their cars and chat among themselves in foreign tongues — I would love to think of these children in terms of their instruments — Violins!